The following articles are related to ‘Personality Disorders’ at Psychology, Philosophy and Real Life.
Make no mistake: psychopaths mean to do harm. It would be a social justice disaster if our growing awareness of the biological bases for their empathy deficits wound up better arming defense attorneys and adversely biasing judges when it comes to sanctioning the most dangerous individuals in our society.
Psychopaths are confident primarily about two things: their skill in manipulating, and their understanding of human nature, especially of neurotic individuals. It’s our very nature that gives psychopaths their confidence.
The recent merciless bullying of bus monitor, Karen Klein, in Greece, New York, raises many questions, such as: How is empathy acquired? Is it teachable? Could we do a better job of cultivating empathy and social consciousness, especially in our young people?
What does ‘change’ really mean? What does it take to bring about real change? How can we recognize when change is really taking place?
All too many people continue to stay with a character disturbed partner because they themselves have character issues that are dysfunctional. Here is an example of a woman who justifies her staying with her boyfriend by finding excuses for his cheating and manipulation — maybe it’s “just midlife crisis.”
Most folks know the feeling of shame so well, they can hardly understand that character-impaired people may have different underlying motives for their behavior. Erroneous notions about human nature may make sense in the context of ‘neurotic’ personalities, but when trying to understand character-impairment they leave us vulnerable to abuse and manipulation.
Learn to recognize these three red flags that the therapeutic process isn’t likely to work for a character disturbed individual in your life. Successful therapy for character disturbance does not depend on any of the these mainstays of traditional therapy, like focusing on feelings, trying to ‘see’ what the person is doing, or working on fears and insecurities and self-esteem issues. Part 3 of a series.
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